What reasons for culling of protected gull?
JUST when you thought the illegal persecution of protected birds could not get any worse, the RSPB has learned that large numbers of protected birds are being killed on a grouse moor in Lancashire.
And this time I’m not talking hen harriers, although the so-called ‘sky dancers’ continue to suffer at the hands of misguided morons, but no, an RSPB staff member working in the Bowland area discovered nesting lesser black-backed gulls being shot, leaving their chicks to be either killed by dogs or left to starve.
Lesser black-backed gulls have been nesting on the moors of Lancashire for more than 80 years.
The recovering colony in Bowland is one of the most important in the UK and is protected under British and European law, having once been in excess of 20,000 pairs.
Lesser black-backed gulls are declining across the UK and the RSPB is becoming increasingly worried about their future in the UK.
This species can only be legally culled if they pose a threat to human health, risk spreading disease or are having a negative effect on other